Localization of articles and other dynamic content in EasyDNNnews

DotNetNuke's users involved with managing multilingual web sites normally use two approaches when it comes to localizing their content. The first approach is actually a parallel web site in a different language, edited and maintained separately. This approach can't actually be defined as localization, so we are not going to deal with that. What we are going to explain is the localization of dynamic content in the EasyDNNnews module. This approach makes it possible for us to translate content, rather than duplicate it, so the user can see the localized version in the selected web site's language.

EasyDNNnews supports the dynamic localization of content, so you can enter translations for an unlimited number of languages, or rather all the languages used at your web site. SEO performances for all languages have been particularly taken into consideration.

What can be localized?

It is possible to localize an article (title, subtitle, summary, content), including the article's meta description and meta keywords, galleries within the article, categories and tags. Each article localized into another language will also feature a link containing the title of the article in that language, in order to achieve the best SEO performance.

How to localize articles and other content in the EasyDNNnews module?

Prior to localizing an article into other languages you must install each additional language at DotNetNuke portal where you wish to localize content.

You can install the desired language from the menu Admin > Languages.

If your DotNetNuke portal has at least two added languages, in the EasyDNNnews module you can see localization icons, marked as Content localization.

Localization of articles

All added articles can be localized. Open the article you have created and you will notice the button Content localization at the top of the page. If we click on this button, the following page will be opened:

From the drop-down menu Select language, we can select the language you want the article to be translated to. The option Copy default values is useful if you want to directly translate the text, so the text in the default language will make translating easier. If you click on the Copy default values button, all the fields will be filled in with content in the default language.

The text's translation is entered into the fields, and clicking on SEO settings provides the option to add meta descriptions and meta keywords.

After entering the translation, the task is completed by clicking on the button Save localization.

The existing translation can be deleted by choosing the language and clicking on Delete selected locale button.

Localizing an article gallery

If an article contains a gallery of images, you will probably want to localize each image's title and description.

Let's return to the edit page of the article. Each image has the button Set as main article image, with a link labeled Localize content. If we click on this link, a new page will be opened, where it is possible to localize the title and description. The procedure is identical as that of localizing the article.

Localizing categories

Categories can be localized from the Dashboard, or Category manager. It is possible to localize an already added category. The category you wish to edit should be selected in the Category editor, followed by clicking on the pencil button. This opens the edit page of the category, which features the button Category localization in the upper right corner. By clicking on this button we are moved to the page where we can enter the translation of category title for any desired language. The procedure is the same as that when articles are localized.

Localizing tags

It is possible to localize the existing tags. Localizing can be executed from the Dashboard, or Tag editor. Each tag in the Tag editor is accompanied by the Localize link. By clicking on this link a page is created where we can enter that tag's translation for the desired language.

SEO of the localized content

EasyDNNnews takes care of Search engine's optimization for each particular language. While localizing articles, it is possible to enter meta tags and meta descriptions for each language. The article's URL for each language will have the title for that particular language, and articles site map is generated for each language. Category and tag links will be automatically localized.

Finally, if it is possible to localize dynamic content in EasyDNNnews, what happens to static elements and the administrative interface of the EasyDNNnews module? Can these elements also be localized? Yes, they can. It is possible to localize all static elements, and we are going to deal with that in our next article.